The present invention relates to a machine for bending the edges of substantially rectangular sheets of metal. More particularly, the invention relates to a machine, equipped with a single bending press, which can be used to bend each of the edges of a rectangular sheet of metal one or more times to form a panel; such panels are widely used, for example, in the manufacture of metal furniture, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and shelving in general.
Until now the peripheral bending of sheet metal to obtain such panels has been effected by known bending presses, incorporating plate-forming dies, which have a recognised technical and economic drawback due to the need for manual intervention by one or more operatives in all the successive stages of production of a panel. Thus, a sheet to be worked must be fed manually to, and correctly positioned on, the work table of the press and any subsequent repositioning of the sheet to present different sides of the sheet to the bending die, or to turn the sheet over to effect bending in the opposite direction must also be effected manually. The removal of the bent panel from the press must also be carried out by hand.
Such manual intervention not only lowers the overall production efficiency of the bending process compared with that potentially achievable, but also increases the probability of dimensional and/or geometric errors in the finished panels. These disadvantages clearly assume greater importance the larger the number of bends required on each side of a panel and the greater the number of sides to be bent.
The object of the present invention is to provide a machine which although equipped with only a single bending press, is capable of effecting bending of a rectangular sheet to provide a plurality of bends of predetermined amplitude and direction on each of the four sides without any manual intervention.